Tim Peake’s Destination Space to inspire young minds with the wonder of space flight

Newcastle’s Life Science Centre has joined forces with the European Space Agency’s first British astronaut, Tim Peake, to provide visitors with a unique opportunity to learn about human space flight and follow life on the International Space Station. Destination Space will give visitors, particularly children, the chance to learn about Tim Peake’s mission through hands-on experiments, rocket demonstrations, space equipment and live video from the International Space Station. The project, which is backed by the UK Space Agency, involves twenty science centres from across the UK. As well as learning about Tim Peake’s work on the International Space Station, Destination Space will celebrate the team behind Tim, highlighting great opportunities for young people across the science and space sector. The programme is being developed with teams at the National Space Centre in Leicester, Science Museum in London and Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre in Cheshire, and led by the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres in Bristol. Families and schools will be invited to join Destination Space through a calendar of family shows and live events running from October 2015 including special events for Tim Peake’s launch, meet-the-expert sessions and a fabulous astronaut show that will engage and inspire family audiences with Tim's mission. Special curriculum-linked activities for school children aged 5-14 will be starting from January 2016 whilst Tim is in space. Online, Destination Space will allow people to follow Tim Peake’s adventures in space in real time, find out what role in the crew would suit them and learn about inspiring figures within the field of human space flight. Ian Simmons, Director of Science Communications at Life, said: “Destination Space is an exciting project and we’re really pleased to be part of it. As a science centre with a major planetarium in it, Life has a natural affinity for space science. The project gives us an opportunity to present a programme that really showcases this.” “We want to show there is a huge crew of women and men from all areas of science and engineering who work to make space missions possible. This is a chance to celebrate their endeavours, giving young people the confidence and curiosity to explore and ask questions long after they leave the science and discovery centres.”